Previews

Killzone

Spiffy:

Cool visual style; varied gameplay via squad of four characters.

Iffy:

Could very well get lost in the glut of first-person shooters arriving this fall.

The hype of a little game called Killzone swelled when rumors hit message boards that Sony was about to announce a FPS that could put Master Chief to rest (check out our early preview). So far, a "Halo killer" it is not, but there is good reason to pay close attention to Sony's big first-person shooter that could.

Developer Guerilla Games has opted for a grainy filter to be laid over the onscreen action, resulting in gritty, real war-like imagery. After all, that's what the game's producer keeps touting: real, real, real! Even if it is a sci-fi mock-up, it's true that Killzone puts players in the trenches -- or, rather, in the "kill zone." Even more intelligently, I think the decision to go gritty and grainy was a result of the PS2's weak processing power compared to the Xbox. With a bright, colorful look, it would be obvious that Halo is superior; but with a stylized, drowned-out palette, Killzone appears to be shockingly slick. It's all about presentation!

Gameplay-wise, unlike the original plan to be able to switch back and forth between a squad of guys, you'll have to pick just one character to control during each of the game's 11 missions. Rico is big into heavy-weapons, exploding enemies with an onslaught of rockets, and the like; Luger is a hot body with assassin-like charm, sneaking around in the shadows to slit the necks of unsuspecting foes; Templar is the most neutrally balanced of the foursome, most like an infantryman; and Hakka is the "hush-hush" character, as Guerilla won't leak any info beyond the fact that he's a spy that switched sides, from the evil Helghast to the human-populated ISA side.

It seems Sony is going for a "don't just play once, play four times" marketing campaign, as each warrior offers a different approach to the action. As Luger, you can make a slow crawl towards enemies, impaling them; whereas Templar could just take a sniper rifle and nail one in the head; or Rico, the balls-out kind of fighter he is, could target a rocket right into the guy's abdomen. What's your pleasure?

It seems war movies have played a huge role in the inspiration for the varied battlefields, too. Saving Private Ryan-style towns exist, beaten to a crumble, as do bunker-covered landscapes. While there weren't many levels on display, it was nice to know that the pace of each level -- along with the look -- is going to shift. The market has enough cookie cutter FPS offerings already.

The controls proved pretty easy to learn, too. Just think Halo, only on the PS2; after all, you can't blame Guerilla for borrowing, since Bungie crafted the perfect FPS-on-console control scheme. Simple things like pressing the L1 trigger to lob grenades, or holding the button down to "cook" them, is a attribute worth stealing.

If only Guerilla would admit its specific influences, because the murky, glowing-eyes-of-the-enemy thing is very much a Masamune Shirow-coined visual (Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell). It's certainly a neat look, but a give credit where credit is due, guys!